1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to holography (e.g., visual illusion and persistence of vision) imagery including floating two or three dimensional projections or displays and, more particularly, to, a system for producing holographic effects or producing illusory or virtual projection surface effects using a partial screen surface that oscillates at high speeds.
2. Relevant Background
In the visual effects and visual media fields, there are continuing demands for methods for projecting, or generating floating objects or objects that appear to be projected with no screen. Even more preferred is to project an object that appears to be hovering in space and that is three dimensional (3D objects). Holography or the production of holograms is one technique for addressing this demand and has been studied for many years. Holograms are images that are recorded and reconstructed or projected that are three dimensional (3D). While many improvements have been made, holograms are still relatively difficult to produce; and may require multiple projection components such as beamsplitters, mirrors, and laser sources to effectively reconstruct a recorded hologram. Such a system may be costly and require a significant amount of space.
Additionally, many holograms are monochromatic such as common white light holograms, and this is generally not acceptable to today's media consumers who demand more vivid and colorful images. Further, there are many applications where it is desirable for the projected image to appear to be speaking or making other sounds such as when the projected object is an animated character or person. Conventional holographic technology has not been able to meet all of these practical requirements and has not been widely adopted for generating visual effects in amusement or theme parks, in movie theatres, or elsewhere.
Some efforts have been made to produce 3D objects by using a moving screen, but these generally do hot produce desired holographic effects or have other limitations such as operational complexity, space requirements, and cost. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,678,910 describes a device for producing 3D imagery in which one Or more projectors project images onto a planar screen that is rotated rapidly about an axis. It is intended that the screen would be spun quickly enough that a viewer would riot detect the motion but instead would see a, 3D or “solid” object. While providing some beneficial results, the spinning screen technique may not be effective to hide the screen and also creates undesirable side effects such as noise and air movement similar to those produced by a fan, which limits the use of such a device in applications in which the viewers may be near the spinning screen. Other techniques using rotating projection screens have been developed, but these also fail to meet all the demands of the visual effects and visual arts fields, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,554,430 and 6,665,048. Some attempts to produce floating visual displays have provided light sources such as light emitting diodes (LEDs) on fan blades or projected light onto such rotating fan blades. These effects have some desirable qualities, but, again, such rotating “screens” have not been widely adopted to produce 3D or other holographic effects.
There remains a heed for systems and devices for producing visual displays or projections of 3D images and preferably such systems and devices would use no projector screen or at least provide the illusion that no screen was used. Further, it is preferable that the produced images be matched with sound or audio output and, when desired, be provided, in color (e.g., not limited to monochrome).